Objective
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and bullying in adolescents have become more prominent in recent years, and childhood maltreatment is an important risk factor. However, it is still not clear enough how covert yet critical emotional harm from the family can lead to adolescents' external and internal harmful behaviors. Particularly, based on the Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework, the mediating roles of perceived social support and self-compassion, as protective factors at both interpersonal and intrapersonal levels, in the relationship between emotional abuse and NSSI/bullying, have rarely been explored. Therefore, this study will further examine the effects of emotional abuse on adolescent NSSI/bullying and the underlying mechanisms based on the cycle of violence hypothesis and Positive Youth Development theory.
Methods
A total of 10,294 adolescents from several provinces in China were recruited to participate in this study (Mage = 15.60 ± 1.39), completing a series of self-rating scales. By constructing structural equation modeling, we examined the effects of emotional abuse on adolescents' NSSI/bullying and the mediating roles of perceived social support and self-compassion after controlling for demographic variables. In addition, given that gender is a non-negligible factor, we also conducted a multi-group gender analysis.
Results & Discussion
The results found that emotional abuse significantly predicted adolescents’ NSSI and bullying behaviors, and that emotional abuse had a significantly greater impact on adolescents’ NSSI than bullying behaviors. Perceived social support and self-compassion mediated the effects of emotional abuse on NSSI/bullying. In addition, the gender difference test in this study yielded some illuminating findings. Gender-based multi-group analyses found that emotional abuse predicted NSSI significantly more for females than for males. Conversely, emotional abuse was a greater predictor of bullying in males and failed to predict bullying in females. In the male group, emotional abuse could indirectly influence adolescents' NSSI and bullying through the mediating roles of perceived social support and self-compassion. However, in the female group, self-compassion can't mediate the effects of emotional abuse on bullying.
Conclusions
Emotional abuse significantly and positively predicts adolescent NSSI/bullying behavior, highlighting the hidden harm of emotional abuse. Furthermore, based on Positive Youth Development Theory, we found that perceived social support and self-compassion mediated the effects of emotional abuse on adolescent NSSI/bullying with significant gender differences. These findings may provide new directions and perspectives for adolescent NSSI and bullying prevention and intervention. To break the cycle of harm, it is not only important to pay attention to parenting styles, but enhancing positive psychological resources may be more effective in allowing adolescents to withstand the adverse effects of emotional abuse, thus effectively reducing the risk of NSSI and bullying.

Acknowledgment: This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 21BSH017).
 

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury,Bullying,Adolescents